Maryland universities, Montgomery County government and the private sector are teaming up to capitalize on local momentum in life sciences created over the past year as the pandemic catapulted companies in the region to the global stage — and as the need for research and innovation continues.
Montgomery County, the University System of Maryland and Montgomery College signed a memorandum of understanding Friday at the Universities at Shady Grove’s Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Building in Rockville. The collaboration between academia and industry, called the Montgomery/Maryland Life Sciences Education and Innovation Partnership, will aim to create job opportunities for local students and, in doing so, build a talent pipeline for the county’s companies.
Montgomery County established itself as the “epicenter of job creation” in Maryland, “but over the last decade, our growth has flattened, and we can’t rest on our reputation anymore,” Elrich said at a press conference Friday announcing the deal. “At some point, people aren’t going to come here because of you reputation, you have to show what you can do and where you’re going. This is an effort to show people what we can do and where we are going.”
The goal is to attract more industry and federal investment, while also expanding the county’s bandwidth to “to house and develop new innovative research and industry collaboration facilities focused on strategic areas from pandemic research and preparedness to computing — all areas driving advancements in the areas of the life sciences and human health for the foreseeable future,” per the MOU.
Step 1: Connect talent with industry. That’s important, because bolstering the county’s recruitment and retention as demand grows is “a critical, but currently missing link,” the partners said in a release Friday. “To achieve this, industry must be engaged to enhance career awareness and inform development of curriculum and programmatic offerings that will stimulate supply,” they said in their announcement.
How does that happen, exactly? The MOU outlines a handful of steps, including sharing best practices and resources for employee training, developing curricula to support the industry’s workforce needs, establishing post-graduate research programming around future biotech needs, and working with Montgomery County Public Schools to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs.
“It’s about more than providing growth opportunities for our students and our employers, though that’s important,” USM Chancellor Jay Perman said in a statement. “It’s about advancing an R&D agenda for a country still in the grips of a pandemic, and pioneering solutions that will prepare us for crises to come.”
The proposed “center of excellence” would bring together the county’s industry, academia, federal, and nonprofit research organizations, officials said Friday. And the MOU partners would also “ensure the location of any new facilities or innovation related infrastructure complements current assets,” the announcement said.
“Montgomery County’s bio and life sciences industry have been critical to every person on our planet over the last year as they helped research, produce, and manufacture the vaccines that have been the most effective weapon against the Covid-19 virus,” County Executive Marc Elrich said in a statement. “The last 15 months have demonstrated that these companies and their employees are vital to our global security, and we must continue to invest in their success.”
The partners are now forming a committee that will develop education and research programs, and identify where these programs will live, with an initial action plan to be delivered by October. The initiative’s initial steering committee comprises dozens of leaders from across the participants:
- From the private sector: US Pharmacopeia CEO Ronald Piervincenzi; American Gene Technologies founder and CEO Jeff Galvin; former Social & Scientific Systems Inc. CEO Kevin Beverly; Quality Biological Inc. President and CEO Angela Graham; Joseph Sanchez, AstraZeneca’s director of research and development science engagement and STEM programs; and John Joaquin, client leader and managing executive of IBM.
- From the county: County Executive Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker; and Craig Rice, chair of the Montgomery County Council Education and Culture Committee.
- From Montgomery College: Michael Knapp, chair of its board of trustees; Sanjay Rai, its senior vice president for academic affairs; and Stephen Cain, its chief of staff and chief strategy officer.
- From the University System of Maryland: Isiah Leggett, member of the board of regents; Dr. Jay Perman, the system’s chancellor; Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland, College Park; Dr. Bruce Jarrell, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore; Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Aminta Breaux, president of Bowie State University; Shirley Brandman, chair of the Universities at Shady Grove Board of Advisors; and Anne Khademian, executive director of the Universities at Shady Grove.
It comes as Montgomery County’s biotech and life sciences cluster continues to expand, most recently with the advancement of Novavax Inc.’s (NASDAQ: NVAX) campus project as the company works to deliver a Covid-19 vaccine, and as more companies increasingly set up shop in the area. In 2020, the county’s biotechs collected a total $8 billion in funding from government, private-sector investors and foundations.
